Sentinel tower for banks



l July 28, 1925.

C; P. STEVENS sENTINEL TOWER FonBANxs Filed may 8, 19,25 2 sheets-sneu 1 Parental July 2s, 1925,.

UNITED, STATES PATEN'r-foFFlcE.

CHARLES I. sTEvENs, or sAN PEDRO, CALIFORNIA, AssIo'NOIa,` or ONE-THIRD '.ro nEssIE E. HALE, or Los ANGELES, cALIEoENIA, AND ONE-THIRD To HUGH E.

` STEVENS, or sAN PEDRO, CALIFORNIA.

sENTINEL 'rowEE ron EANxs.

Application' med nay 8,1925. serial No. 28,987..

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that'I, CHARLES P. STEVENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Pedro, in the county of Los Angeles'and State of (Jalifornia, have invented new and useful 4Improvements in Sentinel Towers for Banks, vof which the following is a specification.

vThis invention v(relates to am armoured tower adapted to be installed in banks and jewelry stores and is inthe formr of an obf servation or sentinel towerl so constructed call board having ,a

` that a guard within the tower may be able to observe various parts of a bank by means the top of the tower, whereby t-he images, for instance of the different. tellers windows may be concentrated a single mirror.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sentinel tower of vcylindrical shape having a hemispherical to and bottom 1n order that bullets striking ille sentinel tower will glance off rather than penetrate through the sides or top. A

Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a sentinel tower having a call board within the interior of the sentinel tower, the

lurality of compartments with electric lig ts therein which may be individually lightedy a foot operating switch located in each o the tellers cages,

l there being a glass panel. covering the compartments, having a number corresponding to each of the di'erent tellers cages, so that when the teller is suspicious of a certain.

person he may close the switch and thereby v call attention to the guard within the tower.

A further object of the invention ,is to Vprovide a sentinel tower of the character referred to, having a ings through whic a rifle or other firing arm may be projected by the guard within the tower, in order that he may shoot in various directions.v y.

l Another'object of the invention is to. provide a sentinel tower having an electric switch therein, whichis adapted to close a circuit toelectrically operated doors, in

order to close all the doors of the at -one time.

These'objects are accomplished by the disclosure lherein set forth, by the following ldescription of the accompanying drawings tower, parts l line 4 4 of Fig. 3. of a camera obscura construction mounted in and projected on lplurality of lateral openpolnted out in the appended claims, in

which-4 vFigure v1 is a perspective view of the interior of albank, showing the sentinel tower as appears in positio 1 -F 1g. 2 is a rspective view of the sentinel Fig. 6; `ig. 8 is a rear `elevation of the shutter asrit appears from the interior of thesentinel tower.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, thenumeral 10 designates a hollow pedestal l upon which the sentinel tower-Tis mounted. C The sentinel t'ower 'l'A has a cylindrical portion 11terminating in hemispherical upper and lower portions 12 and 13, andis made up of outer and inner walls of armoured plate 14 and 15, which are secured to a frame work 16, made up of structuralsteel.` The frame work 16 consists of npright I-beams 17, the ends of which are bent on radii correspondin to the hemispherical upper and lower portions -12 and 13. The I-beams 17 are connected an braced b lhorizontal I-beams 18.

The I- ams 417 are secured to the I-beams 18 by welding process and the outer and inner walls of armoured plate 14, are in a like manner securedl to vthe yframe 16.

In order to make the sentinel tower buling broken away anch shown.

on linev let-proof, the space between the inner and outer walls 14 and 15 is filled with compressed cotton 19.- A plurality of liring holes .2O extend through the walls'14 and 15 and .the compressed cotton 19. The liring holes 20 are adapted to 4be normally closed by inner and outer shuttersl 21. and 22 respectively, the shutters being connected by a shaftv 23 extending through a sleeve 24.

The shutters 21 and 22 are rigidly secured to the shaft and a handle 25 is mounted on the inner shutter 22 so that when y"it is de-4 sired to open The pedestal 10 extends inwardly into the t wer and is vadapted to receive a flange 29 of a standard 30 supporting a revolving lean back spring chair 31.

The sentinel tower is provided with a floor 32 which is mounted on brackets 33, secured tothe frame 16 and a flange 34 secured to the pedestal 10. L

A trap door 35 is mounted directly .above the entrance 28 and is adapted to close an opening 3:6 in the floor 32. The door 35 is connected to the floor by a pair of hinges 37 and is providedwith a pair `of lifting handles 38.

A circulation of air through the tower is provided for by means of an air inlet openmg 39 formed in the pedestal below the tower and an air conduit 40 forms a passage between the interior of the pedestal 10 and the interior of the tower T, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. i

Thevair inlet openin may be' covered with a screen 41 and t e upper end of the conduit 40 is enclosed by a screen 42 resting on the ioor 32.

The circulation of air through the tower is induced by a fan 43 operated by an electric motor 44. The fan 43 is mounted within a cylindrical housing 45 which projects through the upper portion 12 of the tower. The housing 45 projects a short distance be-A ond the enterior of the outer wall'14 and as a bevelled edge 46 in order to deflect bullets.

In order to prevent any bullets from entering therinterior of the tower through the housing-45, a plate 47 is mounted within thehousing 45, directly above the fan 43, the plate bein of a smaller sine than the interior of the ousing 45, in order to allow a circulation of air to pass betweenthe periphery ofthe plate 47 and the housing 45.

A camera obscura construction'generally designated at 48 is mounted on the top of the .portion 12 of the tower T and consists of a plurality of. laterally projecting tubes 49,each. of the tubes' bein 'provided with a lens 50 at their outer en and a mirror 51 yat their, inner end, the mirror -51- being positioned at an angle of 45.

A vluralitylof perpendicular tubes 52 ex-` tendthrough. an openlng 53 and are positioned directly below the mirrors 51 in thel tubes 49. The tubes 49 are adapted to'indif vidually focus and project'the image of the tellers windows and a small portion of the area surrounding, on a mirror 54. Hence, lgy looking on the mirror'54 the guard may at once observe any irregularity taking place in the bank.

A call board' generally designated at 55 is mounted on the inner wall 15 and consists of a plurality of compartments 56 and is covered by a glass plate 57.

Each ofthe compartments 56 are provided with an electric lamp 58, each lamp bein adapted to be illuminated by a foot operat switch located in the tellers cage.

A number lcorresponding to a number of operated doors for closing all the exits of the bank atone time.

A powerful electric lamp 61, is mounted in a spherical member 62 and is adapted to illuminate the interiorl of the tower and also direct light `on the mirror 54, the circuit to the lampI 61 being independent of the general lighting system of the bank, so

that incase the main wires are cut the guard will still be able to see.

A telephone 63 is adapted to be mounted enabled to see all the tellers windows and extends through the 32 and is connected to the on a stand 64 secured to the inner wall 15. v

The telephone may be used for calling the police'station or ambulance.

From the construction it will be seen that the sentinel tower aifords protection against the ever increasingv number of holdup artists who specialize in robbing banks, jew'- elry stores and the like, and the guard within the tower is relieved kof the usual ner-` vous strain which they are usually subjected to when peering through a peep hole for any great length of time.

It will also be appreciated that due to the camera obscura construction and the call board, the guard is enabled to have a clear vlsion of all the tellers cages and that any oneof the tellers may signal and attract the 'attention of the guard by closin the foot operated switch in his cage if he slgiould become-suspicious of a customer or` be held up. The guard may then close-all the 'doors of the bank from escaping by manipulating the switch 60. If it should be necessary to use firearms the guard may do so the shutters and fire in any theiiring holes.l

From the above it will be obvious that a bank' or other institution employing the direction through by opening one of and prevent the holdup artist sentinel tower will be avoided by holdup artistsand that the trade of such institutions will be increased as their customers will have no fear of being killed or injured during a holdup.

Various changes may be made without departing claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A sentinel tower comprising -a frame,

` an outer wall and an inner wall secured to said frame, said outer and inner walls being made of armoured plate and having a central cylindrical portion terminating in hemispherical ends, the space` between said inner and outer walls being filled with compressed cotton, a hollow pedestal supporting said sentinel tower, a floor within the interior of said sentinel tower, said hollow pedestal havin a portion extending into the interior of sai sentinel tower, an air conduit within said sentinel tower registering with an opening in the portion of the hollow pedestal extending into the lsentinel tower, there being an air inlet opening in said hollow pedestal below said sentinel tower and an air outlet in the hemispherical top of said sentinel tower, an electric fan for inducing a circulation of air through the sentinel tower, a revolving chair within said tower mounted on the upper end of said hollow pedestal, a plurality of camera -obscuras mountedon the top of said sentinel tower adapted to project images upon a mirrorwithin the sentinel.

tower and a call board for the purposes set forth.

2. A sentinel tower comprising a frame of structural steel, an outer wall formed of armoured plate secured to said frame, an

from the Spirit of the invention asf inner wall of armoured plate secured to said frame, the space between the inner and outer walls being filled with compressed cotton, a plurality of perpendicular tubes extending through an opening formed in the top of said sent-ineltower, a plurality of lateral tubes connecting with said perpendicular tubes, eaclr of said lateral tubes having a lens therein at its outer end, and a mirror f ing a plurality of lateral firing holes, an inner and outer shutter adapted to cover said firing holes, said shutters connected by a shaft, and a handle carried by the inner shutter for opening and closing the shutters. 4. In a sentinel tower, a call board having individually electrically illuminated by closing a remote Switch located in a tellers cage or any other desirable point, and a switch adapted to'close an electric circuit controlling electrically operated doors of the bank or building wherein the sentinel tower is installed.

' In testimony whereof I'have signed my name to this specification. 4

CHARLES P. STEVENS.

va plurality of compartments adapted to be 

